Core Education Committee

Oregon State University Faculty Senate

Meeting of the Core Education Committee
May 14, 2025
10:00-11:45 A.m.
Zoom

Minutes

 

Committee members present: Kelsey Emard (Co-chair), Daniel Faltesek (Co-chair), Aidas Banaitis, Abigail Crowell, Liz Delf, Matthew Kennedy, Lori McGraw, Brian Mills, Holly Mitchell, Kari-Lyn Sakuma, Dave Stemper, Paula Weiss

Committee members absent: Andrea Allan, Vipin Arora

Ex-officio members present: Stephanie Baugh (Curriculum Management), Heath Henry (General Education Assessment), McKenzie Huber (Core Education Director), Kali Furman (Difference, Power & Oppression Director), Karen Watte (Ecampus), Ashley Holmes (WIC)

Visitors and staff present: Caitlin Calascibetta (Faculty Senate Office), Andrew Valls (Faculty Senate President), Troy Hall, Michael Jefferis, Kristin Nagy Katz, Caryn Stoess

 

New Business & Information Items

The co-chairs called the meeting to order.

• Transitions Proposal from BEST Program
  • In partnership with an academic college, they’d like to offer a four-week Transitions class. It is somewhat similar to the Educational Opportunities Program (EOP) Transitions course that was proposed. Differences include the timeline of the course, going into the fall term, and it will be taught by professional faculty. It is meant to support incoming student athletes, including international student athletes. There is nothing in the Learning Outcome, Criteria and Rationale (LOCR) that contradicts this type of class. However, some argued that this course is isolating students in a small group and gives special opportunities to specific students. Some also pointed out that there is terminology in the LOCR that does preclude this type of course. Does the LOCR refer to existing bridge programs? The co-chairs will create a Google document, and the committee will discuss it more next week.
• Assessment – aligning institutional learning outcomes and assessment collection schedule
  • NWCCU Institutional Learning Outcomes
    • Identified one column for each of the categories. While a category could fit in multiple columns, for simplicity, they are relegated to one. This will be presented to the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU) as part of the year 7 report for accreditation.

Action: Motion to accept the alignment; seconded. The motion passed with 12 votes in favor, 0 votes in opposition and 0 abstentions.

• Updated Collection Schedule
  • Arts and Humanities and Difference, Power & Oppression-Foundations and Advanced (DPO-F/A) will need to be collected earlier than initially planned due to the change in course caps and to engage in self-study as indicated by the Office of Academic Affairs.

Action: Motion to accept the updated collection schedule; seconded. The motion passed with 12 votes in favor, 0 votes in opposition and 0 abstentions.

• Course Caps Update
  • The rise in course caps was discussed during the May 8 Faculty Senate meeting. While many faculty were upset, a vote was not brought to the floor at the time. The Lead Senators met with the Executive Committee on May 13 to discuss the matter further and express their concern over how the matter was handled during the meeting. There may be some consideration for a special session of the Faculty Senate to discuss course caps more and potentially vote on some type of motion. It was also reiterated that the enforcement of course caps is at the discretion of the deans of the colleges.

Course Reviews

The committee reviewed and discussed the following Core Education proposals.

• KIN 415 Challenges in Exercise, Sport and Health
  • Good course. The scope of problem does seem like a global issue, though it may not seem as big as climate change. There is some concern from the liaisons about the instructional materials as they are different based on what project the students choose. There does not seem to be any foundational theory/concepts taught and so the depth and whether or not students actually meet the LOs and criteria for the category (touching on biophysical and social science) is not guaranteed because it is not intentionally built into the course and the projects.

Action: Motion to rollback with comments: This course has great potential for the seeking solutions category! The committee requests some clarity to confirm how the criteria will be met. Specifically, please clarify, 1) how you will ensure that each separate project chosen each term will be a wicked problem of global societal relevance; 2) how course content/materials/concepts will be provided for each separate problem that covers both social and physical dimensions, and 3) which broader stakeholder groups will be impacted by these wicked problems for LO1; seconded. The motion passed with 12 votes in favor, 0 votes in opposition and 0 abstentions.

• SOIL 375 Seeking Climate Solutions: Carbon Dioxide Removal
  • Unclear how group work will be assessed. The matrix could also use more detail on course content and assessment.

Action: Motion to rollback with notes: Please provide clarity on the following: 1) how does the reflection assess the individual contributions?; 2) the syllabus matrix needs more detail (you can use content from CIM); 3) explain how this course is designed for a wide range of non-soil science majors (given that seeking solutions courses are supposed to interdisciplinary) and revise as necessary; and 4) recommend establish a clearer AI policy given the reliance on writing in this class.; seconded. The motion passed with 12 votes in favor, 0 votes in opposition and 0 abstentions.

• PHL 225 Love, Sex, and Desire
  • It is a good proposal, but the second essential assignment (EA) is missing historical and contemporary examples. The syllabus matrix for Ecampus is identical to the on-campus version, which is not a good fit. The EA for LO3 is not well explained but should be a good fit.

Action: Motion to rollback with notes: 1) How does the Week 6 quiz (essential assignment for LO2) require students to use historic and contemporary examples? Or choose a different quiz to serve as this essential assignment. 2) Change the LO matrix in the Ecampus syllabus to remove references to in-class activities/discussions. 3) If the title should have an "and" then please add that to the titles in both syllabi.; seconded. The motion passed with 11 votes in favor, 0 votes in opposition and 0 abstentions.

• HSTS 213 Landscapes & Waterscapes in Indigenous North America (3rd review)
  • The course was previously rolled back but only minor changes have been made. The assessments are not connected to the LOs. The syllabi has not been modified as requested.

Action: Motion to rollback with notes: 1) assessment needs to link directly to the LOs and 2) syllabi need to be modified to reflect the changes made in CIM.; seconded. The motion passed with 11 votes in favor, 0 votes in opposition and 0 abstentions.

• SW 204 Antiracism and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Practice (2nd review)
  • The primary concern around the proposed SW courses is: do they include enough content to work up to 90 work hours? The committee felt that SW 204 course did meet DPO-F LOs and Criteria, but it was sent back to ask how it included content for 3 credits in the 5-week course structure. The Co-chairs will further investigate the nature of the courses before discussing them further.
• SW 205 Affirming Neurodiversity (2nd review)
  • Calculations for work hours make no sense. Held until next week.
• SW 414 Advocacy for Human Rights and Social Justice
  • Held until next week.
• SW 214 Culturally Affirming and Nonviolent Communication
  • Held until next week.

• SW 211 Dignifying Death (2nd review)
  • Includes no calculations for work hours. Held until next week.

• AEC 343 Sustainable Economic Development
  • The course description says its focused on global poverty, but the clos focuses on low-income countries. This course doesn’t include industrialized nations. LO2 – the EA has groups exploring only one approach, rather than 2 or more.

Action: Motion to approve with a note to seriously consider how the course can attend to the role of the Global North and industrialized countries in experiencing poverty and unsustainability and/or in (re)producing global economic inequities?; seconded. The motion passed with 11 votes in favor, 0 votes in opposition and 0 abstentions.

• CROP 350 Producing More with Less: Challenges in World Food Production & Security
  • Held until next week.

• LEAD 262 Team and Organizational Leadership
  • Held until next week.

• LING 201 Introduction to Language, Linguistics, and Power
  • Held until next week.

• HST 104 World History: Ancient Civilizations
  • Held until next week.

• TRAL 227 Outside: Sharing your Outdoor Origin Story
  • Held until next week.

• CH 110 ROYGBIV: The Chemistry of Colors
  • This is a great class for the category.

Action: Motion to conditionally approve pending an Ecampus redevelopment proposal; seconded. The motion passed with 9 votes in favor, 0 votes in opposition and 1 abstention.

Adjournment

With no further discussion or business before the committee, the co-chairs adjourned the meeting.